Chapter 7: Major Scales and Keys

The Building Blocks of Scales

In this chapter we’re going to learn about the major scale, which is the most commonly used scale in Western music. Most famous melodies that you know are constructed from major scales. A scale is a sequence of notes created using a specific set of intervals. Most scales (including the major scale) are created using half-step and whole-step intervals, although some scales contain larger intervals. Back in Chapter 1, we saw that the half step was the interval between any note and the nearest note either above or below on the keyboard. Now we will define the whole step as double the size of the half step, as shown below:

Notice that the whole-step intervals are equivalent to two half steps. For example, the whole step F–G includes two half steps (F–F♯ and F♯ –G), and the whole step F♯ –G♯ includes two half steps (F♯ –G and G–G♯ ). Two half steps are also shown for comparison (A♯ –B and B–C). So now that we have our half steps and whole steps figured out, we can build all of our major scales pretty easily!

Building Major Scales

We are now going to build a C major scale, using a specific sequence of whole steps and half steps: W = whole step H = half step

It just so happens that when we construct this pattern of intervals starting on the note C, we use all the remaining white keys on the keyboard. The C major scale is a “white keyonly” scale. As we’ll see, if we start this pattern of intervals from any other note, we’ll end up with a mixture of white and black keys. The major scale is a seven-note scale (i.e., there are seven different pitches), and we have used all the letter names in the music alphabet, consecutively (with no letter name being used more than once).

W = whole step H = half step W = whole step Play the notes of this scale on your piano, and get the sound “in your ear.” Don’t worry H = half step too much about fingerings for the moment—we’ll cover those in just a minute.

The major scale should be a familiar and recognizable sound. My former mentor Dick Grove (one of the greatest American contemporary music educators of the 20th century) was fond of saying that the major scale “came over on a boat from Europe.” In other words, it was a pre-determined set of intervals that your “inner ear” already understood, assuming you had some exposure to mainstream tonal music. Now we’ll build this same pattern of whole steps and half steps from F, to create the F major scale:

Notice that we now have the note B♭ as the fourth degree of this scale. This is because we need a half step between the third and fourth degrees. B will be the next letter name after A, and thus the black key that we need to get our half step up from A will be called B flat. Next we’ll use W = whole step H = half step the same method to build a G major scale:

Notice that we now have the note F♯ as the seventh degree of this scale. This is because we need a whole step between the sixth and seventh degrees, therefore, a black key is needed. We also know that the next letter after E is F, and the black key associated with this F should be called F sharp. There are many more major scales, but for now, these three should get you started. In order to use the scales for playing songs, we first need to learn how to play them with the proper fingering.

Why Do I Need to Play Scales? Yes, yes, I know… playing scales doesn’t seem very exciting, and you might be thinking, “Gee, I just wanna get to the fun stuff!” But wait! Don’t turn the page just yet, because knowing and playing the scales will greatly benefit your piano performance, whatever styles you are interested in. So what are the benefits to playing scales, anyway? Several, actually:

• They are great for building technique on the piano. Whether you’re playing Beethoven or Jerry Lee Lewis, you’re going to need piano technique!
• The thumb turns needed to play scales are very good practice for the hand position changes needed when playing songs (coming up very soon).
• A lot of classical pieces and pop songs contain scales or portions of scales in their melodies. Having these sections already “under our fingers” is a great asset—it’s like we know that part of the tune already! Major Scales with Fingerings The following shows the C major scale, with fingerings.

It’s helpful to break the scale fingerings down into fingering groups, starting with the thumb: in this case 1-2-3, then 1-2-3-4-5. As you practice this scale with the fingering shown, make sure you keep the back of your hand straight and parallel to the keyboard, with the fingers curved. After the thumb plays C, it right away begins to turn under and cross behind fingers 2 and 3 so it is ready, in place to play F, right after E. As the thumb is playing F, fingers 2, 3, 4, and 5 line up with G, A, B, and C. Executing this thumb turn ahead of time, and lining up the rest of the fingers will help keep the scale “running” smoothly, without pause. To descend back to the starting point, everything runs in reverse. As the thumb is playing F, finger 3 crosses over to land on E, and then fingers 2 and 1 finish up on D and C. Now it’s time to get the left hand involved with the C major scale:

Just like with the right hand, here we can break the fingerings down into fingering groups: 5-4-3-2-1, and 3-2-1. Everything here is just like the right hand, but in reverse. With the left hand, we cross finger 3 over on the way up. On the way back down we have our thumb turn under after the first three fingers are played. Remember to get the thumb turning ahead of time to keep the scale running smoothly. The same fingering works for the G major scale. The only difference is we have to play a black key as we learned a bit earlier. The scale is notated below on the grand staff so you can practice with your right and left hands (separately, for now).

The F major scale uses the same fingering for the left hand, but because of where the black key lies, we have to use a slightly different fingering for the right hand. Instead of the thumb crossing under after the first three fingers, we wait until after the fourth, which plays the black key of B flat. The thumb will then pick things up on C, with the scale ending on the top F with finger 4. Just like the other scales, the reverse fingering is used on the way down. Once you get to the thumb on C, finger 4 crosses over to play B flat, finishing up with 3-2-1 on A, G, and F.

C major G major F major

The thumb turn, along with the crossing over of finger 3 (or 4 in the F major scale) is a major C major G major F major part of playing the scales. This technique will also be used in the next chapter as we begin to move the hands around a bit in playing some great songs.

There are many more major scales—you can begin a major scale from every white and black key on the keyboard. We don’t have space to show them all here, but you can check extras out my companion volume, The Pop Piano Book (also published by Hal Leonard Corporation) for more information and fingerings for all the major and pentatonic scales.

Introducing Key Signatures

When we play the C major scale, we can hear that the note C sounds like the “home base” or “tonic” of the scale. If a song uses the C major scale, it is most likely in the key of C major.

A key signature is a group of sharps or flats at the beginning of the music, which lets you know which key you are in (and which major scale the song is based on). You probably didn’t notice any key signatures in the songs we’ve played so far. That’s because all of our songs have used the C major scale up to now, and have, therefore, been in the key of C, and the key signature for C major is “no sharps and no flats.” Let’s compare this to the key signature to the right, for F major:

Relating this to the F major scale we built earlier, we remember that we needed the note B♭ as the fourth degree of this scale. The key signature is reminding you to play B♭ (instead of B) when playing in the key of F. That way we don’t need to keep writing flat signs for the B♭ notes that come up in the music. Pretty cool labor-saving device, huh? Now look at the key signature for G major.

Relating this to the G major scale we built earlier, we remember that we needed the note F♯ as the seventh degree of this scale. So the key signature is reminding you to play F♯♯♯ (instead of F) when playing in the key of G. That way we don’t need to keep writing sharp signs for the F♯ notes that come up in the music. Here are all of the major key signatures, for your reference:

You’ll notice that the key signatures consist of either flats or sharps, but not both mixed together. This is because there are no major scales which need both flats and sharps.

Now, if you’re reading a piece of music and you see a key signature at the beginning, it’s very handy (not to mention, essential!) for you to recognize the key that you’re in. That way you’ll know what major scale the song is based on, and if you’ve practiced your major scales, your fingers will know what flats or sharps you’ll need to play.

When looking at the flat key signatures (those containing flats), the second to last flat in the key signature is the key that you’re in. For example, looking at the key signature of A♭ major, we see there are four flats. The second to last flat in the key signature is A♭ , your key! For sharp keys, the last sharp in the key signature is the seventh degree of the key that you’re in, so you just need to go up a half step from this note (using the next letter name in the music alphabet) to find the key. For example, looking at the key signature of A major, we see there are three sharps. The last sharp in the key signature is G♯ , so if we go up a half step from this note (and go to the next letter name) we get to A, our key!

Using Accidentals

Key signatures are a very convenient way of indicating a major scale restriction for a piece of music. But what happens when we want to go outside that restriction? Then we need to use accidentals. These are sharp, flat, or natural signs placed in the music which will contradict the key signature at that point. The natural sign cancels a sharp or a flat that would otherwise be required by the key signature. For example, in the key of F (B’s are flat), if we wanted to play a plain old B (yes, the white key), we would need a natural sign in front of it. Any other “altered” notes, not normally part of the key would need an accidental in front of them. Accidentals will be “in force” for the remainder of the measure in which they are introduced, and will then be cancelled out by the next bar line in the music (or beforehand if necessary, by another accidental on the same note, within the measure). Let’s now look at an example in the key of F, which uses accidentals:

1. This is the note B♭ , as required by the key signature.
2. This is the note B (natural), which contradicts the key signature.
3. This is the note B♭ , as required by the key signature. The bar line cancelled out the previous accidental.
4. This is the note B (natural), which contradicts the key signature.
5. This is still the note B (natural). The accidental is still “in force” until the next bar line.
6. This is the note B♭ , which needed a flat sign to cancel out the accidental, as we’re still in the same measure.

So, watch out for those accidentals, but if you follow these rules, you should do just fine!